Monday, 11 June 2012

A Humbling Devotion

Julia's 100 Word Challenge this week requires a report that captures the essence of the words There's a real buzz about this place. I immediately thought of Arundel's Roman Catholic cathedral which I happened to pass last week during a walking holiday. Churches are normally deserted places first thing on a week-day morning, but I was intrigued by the buzz among a throng waiting outside the locked doors. So I waited with them to see what was to be seen and I was awed by what lay through the gloom within.

A crowd was queuing by 9.15am, expectant as shoppers in the January sales. It was the smell that struck first when the doors opened: the intoxicating aroma of 1,500 flowers carpeting the cathedral nave. It's a tradition observed since 1877, the unfolding events of a century symbolised by patterned petals. For two days each June it shimmers beneath the soaring stonework, then, in seconds, it's trampled by a procession bearing the sacred Host on the feast of Corpus Christi. The marvel is not so much the artistry, but the sacrifice. For the point of this painstaking perfection is, as homage, its destruction.

I went back to watch them process over it. It was curiously thrilling. The idea was imported from Spain and Italy where streets would be strewn with flowers as a mark of respect for a VIP. In the cathedral it's to make a fragrant passage for the Host so the 11 months of planning is purely so that the Bishop can bear the holy vessel along suitably beautified ground.

Wow - what a beautiful picture. I'd never heard of this so I learnt something new. I love the sentiment of the idea, but I agree with Julia - I really don't think I could bear to watch it being trampled.

I musthave a destructive streak. Actually the procession was so magnificent with people in gold chasubles, sweeping capes, Napoleonic hats, green uniforms and a flotilla of small girls in white strewing petals from baskets that the trampling seemed more of a grand ritual than vandalism.

What an interesting piece- like Julia and Sally-Jayne this is new to me. Although the idea of all that hard work (not least all the beautiful petals) being trampled is hard to understand initially it does tie in with the story so I can see why the tradition started. Wouldn't want to be the one trampling over them though!

Aparently they start planning the next year's almost as soon as they've cleared up. They incorporate all sorts of relevant symbols eg the Olympic Torch, something representing the Titinic and the Jubilee this year, then chalk them on the floor before arranging the petals. They've done it every year since 1877 bar a break in the First World War and there were amazing pictures of ones down the ages.

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About Me

As a vicar's wife I bake cakes and memorise the parish ailments. As a mother I occasionally feed and occasionally counsel an 11-year-old son and an 13-year-old daughter. As a journalist I am a part-time staff feature writer on The Guardian and a freelancer. Tartan sofa rugs, herbaceous perennials and a nightly lager hold it all together.